Larsson and his Swedish teammates host the Black Cats pair and their Irish side in Stockholm in World Cup qualifying with the midfielder sending out a warning regarding star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

"I'm sure John knows how good he is," said Larsson. "But I'll mention it again if he's on form that he'll be in for a tough game.

"He is the best Swedish player since Henrik Larsson, without a doubt. He is in the top four or five strikers in Europe at the moment.

"I've seen him a lot and played with him a lot, maybe a lot more than people have over here, and I think in England people have only recently started to realise how good he is and what he's capable of from the goal he scored against England.

"For that type of striker, he is one of a kind, big, strong and mobile and if he's on form he makes us into a different team there's no doubt about that."

Sweden currently sits second on the Group C table, three points behind leaders Germany, whilst Ireland are one points in arrears of the Swedes in third.